12 Tasting Notes

This tea is like candy. It has a strange sweetness on its own, but a little sugar and a lemon wedge really livens it up. The actual black tea flavor is a bit muted, but it makes up for it with the sheer deliciousness of the fruit flavorings. Also, this is a British tea, so you can act all fancy around your friends and exclude them from your fancy tea parties.

You can begin speaking with a British accent, causing everyone to trust your opinion more than they normally would. This will lead to promotions and general success in your life.

Then, one day, atop your mountain of gold, you will inevitably tell your supermodel wife some sweet nothing in your original accent and the world will come crashing down. She will divorce you and take everything you own, leaving you with nothing, right back where you started.

This glorious tea has the power to change your life for the better or worse or not at all. Basically, it’s just like any other tea. Enjoy!

Preparation

I just don’t know about this tea. I was expecting alot from these leaves and came up empty-handed (not an uncommon event with Teavana teas).

I’ve never had anything from the Yunnan province, but this stuff tastes distinctively Assam to me. It’s alright, but not $9 alright. They describe the flavor as complex, but it just seems kind of one note, in my opinion. You can pick up some of Teavana’s Himalayan Majestic for a few cents cheaper and get much more bang for your buck.

I’d say this is one of, if not THE best Darjeeling I’ve ever had, but I haven’t had all that many, so I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. It has a nice, floral taste, but on about the third steep, it starts making me feel nauseated. Of course, that could also be from drinking 6 cups of it in the course of an hour or two to get all that I can out of this measly 2oz of tea that somehow conned me out of $18. Don’t get me wrong, though. This is a great tea and I know Darjeeling is typically quite expensive, but I’m sure that you could find something of equal or better quality for a lower price elsewhere.

Also, they market this stuff as a black tea, but it seems like more of an oolong. idk

Good for the price, but still pretty bad for a Darjeeling. If you concentrate, you might be able to pick up a few of the calling card flavors of Darjeeling, but even then, they are still incredibly weak.

Well, it’s definitely sour, but that’s about it. If this tea had more body, I think it would be a lot better, but nothing I’ve mixed it with seems to help in this area without completely destroying what little flavor there is. I think it might be the green tea they have in there. If it were all black, I might like it more. As it is now, picking the rehydrated cherries out of the wet leaves has proved tastier than the actual drink.

The smell, on the other hand, is heavenly. However, I cannot drink a smell. I think I might put the rest in a bag and hide it in my car somewhere as an air freshener.

If asked to describe this tea in one word, I’d have to pick “smooth”. Smooth not only in flavor, but in texture, as this brew seems to transform ordinary water into tea-flavored milk. Being that I am a purist when concerning Earl Grey, I tried this tea with a bit of bias, and while I still wouldn’t call it a real Earl, I would go so far as to call it a damn fine tea that is more than worthy of its modest $4 pricetag.

The first tea from Teavana that I can safely say isn’t the slightest bit overpriced. As soon as I took my first wiff in the store, this became an instant favorite. The leaves in this tea are of a very high quality that no other Teavana tea that I’ve tried has even come close to matching. I use a mesh ball strainer for loose tea which usually leaves a tolerable amount of tiny escapee leaves and general detritus floating around, but this tea has none of that whatsoever. The flavor itself is surprisingly similar to the smell of the dry leaves minus an extra chocolaty note that I didn’t pick up in the actual tea which isn’t incredibly strong, but has a deep complexity which seems to dance around in the space between floral and crawfish boil. I can’t really describe it, to be perfectly honest. You’ll just have to try it yourself.

Not the best Earl Grey I’ve had, but it’s the best among what’s available in my local area. It’s also the cheapest thing on Teavana’s menu, making it a good daily drinker for patrons of the store. I typically use this tea as filler to get the 10% discount that Teavana offers when you buy a pound or more.

I was skeptical about the chocolate chunks from the beginning, but being the chilehead that I am, my thoughts of “OMGOMGOMGPEPPERS IN TEA!!!” overwhelmed my judgment. On the first try, I found it to be fairly lackluster in flavor with or without additives like sugar and/or milk. It also left me with a headache and deep feelings of buyer’s remorse after drinking it. I believe it would be more enjoyable to eat this tea as trailmix rather than to steep it into the bland, cloudy liquid it is intended to be. Maybe then, you would actually be able to taste the peppers.

I do plan on trying it again for the sake of second chances and the fact that I spent $6 on the stuff, but it won’t be any time soon…